I singlehandle everywhere and when I want to pick up a mooring here's what I do:
Run a line from the bow cleat outside of everything to the
cockpit with about ten feet of extra length. Put on the
safety harness and clip to something in the
cockpit and position the mooring ball on the leeward side of the cockpit area, this allows you to control the throttle and shifter while maneuvering close to the mooring ball. Use your
boat hook to retrieve whatever is attached to the mooring ball, slip the line from the bow cleat thru the whatever and attach this line to the primary
winch.
The
boat is now attached to the mooring ball, and the line can be walked forward at your leisure.
Variations of this technique have worked in
wind and chop.